Canonical's Ubuntu 9.10 Server Edition will include private cloud capabilities, thanks to support for the open source Eucalyptus project, InfoWorld reports. Available for free download on Oct. 29, Ubuntu 9.10 Server Edition will introduce Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud, an open source cloud computing environment based on the same APIs as Amazon EC2. Users will be able to set up 10 to 15 private servers, leveraging the same capabilities they would use with Amazon, thereby allowing them to take their applications off the Amazon cloud and put them instead into a private cloud, or vice versa

The business model around "the cloud" also makes it somewhat different than the pre-cloud days. Usually, like with all of Amazon's services for example, you have "unlimited" usage and storage capability, but you only pay for what you use. This is similar to how Compuserve and some of the old BBS systems worked (pay by the hour).